Collaborative Research: Extending leaf functional trait ecology to leaf symbionts

丰富多样的真菌生活在所有树木的健康叶子中。这些“真菌内生菌”(内生菌、内生菌、植物内生菌)在提高植物在压力条件下的健康方面很重要。然而，在不同植物物种中发现的内生菌多样性群落的形成因素还没有被很好地理解。该项目的总体目标是将真菌内生真菌融入我们对热带植物生态学的理解中，特别关注叶片特征、植物生产力和植物抵御攻击叶片的昆虫和病原体的能力之间的关系。提高我们对真菌内生真菌的了解是重要的，因为它们影响植物的生产力和对干旱和疾病等环境胁迫的抵抗力，包括具有重要经济意义的植物。结果将有助于利用内生菌来缓解植物对快速变化的世界的反应，在可持续农业和森林管理中具有潜在的应用。该项目还将支持本科生和研究生在跨学科研究方面的培训，包括代表不足群体的学生，为K-12教师和高中生提供指导研究经验，并为公众出行做出贡献。在热带森林的背景下，叶特征和内生菌高度多样化，本项目将检验以下假设：(1)叶片中的内生菌群落与与生长和持续策略相关的叶性状有关；(2)内生菌将影响叶片和植物的功能；(3)内生菌对植物防御的贡献将随叶片性状的变化而变化；(4)通过整合这些叶面共生体，可以更好地理解植物的生长与持续策略。研究方法包括实地观察和实验以及生物测试。计划进行一项田间试验，在12个重点物种中操纵内生菌群落。此外，这12种植物的叶片将被引入切叶蚂蚁中，以测试寿命较长的物种是否对切叶蚂蚁不那么有吸引力，以及这是否会受到内生真菌负载的调节。此外，病原体将被引入到12个焦点物种中，以测试内生菌负载较高的叶片是否会受到较低的损害。

Abundant and diverse fungi live inside healthy leaves of all trees. These 'fungal endophytes' (endo, inside; phyte, plant) can be important in enhancing plant health under stressful conditions. However, the factors that shape the diverse communities of endophytes found in different plant species are not well understood. This project's overall goal is to integrate fungal endophytes into our understanding of tropical plant ecology, with a special focus on the relationships among leaf traits, plant productivity, and the ability of plants to defend against insects and pathogens that attack leaves. Improving our understanding of fungal endophytes is important since they influence plant productivity and resistance to environmental stresses such as drought and disease, including for plants of economic importance. Results will facilitate use of endophytes in mitigating plant responses to a rapidly changing world, with potential applications in sustainable agriculture and forest management. This project will also support the training of undergraduate and graduate students in interdisciplinary research, including students of under-represented groups, provide mentored research experiences for K-12 teachers and for high school students, and contribute to public outreach.In the context of tropical forests, where leaf traits and endophytes are highly diverse, this project will test the hypotheses that (1) endophyte communities in leaves vary in relation to leaf traits associated with growth vs. persistence strategies; (2) endophytes will influence leaf and plant functions; (3) contribution of endophytes to plant defense will vary as a function of leaf traits; and (4) understanding growth vs. persistence strategies of plants can be informed greatly by integration of these foliar symbionts. The research approach involves field observations and experiments as well as bioassays. A field experiment is planned where endophyte communities are manipulated in 12 focal species. Additionally, leaves from these same 12 species will be introduced to leaf cutter ants to test whether longer lifespan species are less attractive to leaf cutter ants, and whether this will be mediated by endophyte load. Furthermore, pathogens will be introduced to the 12 focal species to assay if damage will be lower in leaves with high endophyte loads.